August 25, 2010

Good afternoon!  Our first Early Release Day was a success.  I am looking forward to tomorrow night's Parent Orientation at 7pm.  Parents, I hope you will all be able to attend.  I am anxious to share a little bit about what has been happening in our classroom thus far and I would like to answer any questions or concerns you may have so far.

Math News:
The math test will be postponed until Monday, August 30.  I believe the class as a whole needs a little more time to review.  Tomorrow in class we will complete a math open response together and I will send home a study guide to be completed at home.  On Friday, we will review the study guide and I will pull students in small groups to provide individualized instruction, while we will also have the opportunity to play some great math games that review the concepts we've been learning.

Social Studies News:
I found a great website for kids to practice various skills on recently called http://www.playkidsgames.com/.  On the website there are 2 fantastic games to help the students review the continents and place them correctly on a map.  Just go to these links to check them out.
http://www.playkidsgames.com/games/continentNames/default.htm
http://www.playkidsgames.com/games/findContinent/default.htm

Writing News:
We will be finishing our launching of the Writer's Workshop on Friday.  To celebrate I would like to allow students to publish their writing on my blog.  Names will not be included on the writing, but it will be a cool way for the kids to show off what they have been working on in their collecting.

Reading News:
In class, we have been learning to build our reading stamina, learning how to do reading responses, and doing reading assessments to give me some information about the children as readers.  Please remind your child to record the book title and pages read each night followed by a parent signature to show that the reading was completed.  Thursday night's reading will be replaced by a social studies magazine with activities that make for great review of what we are learning on the back.
Word Study News:
Please encourage your child to learn the correct spelling, capitalization, and location of the continents, oceans, Equator, Prime Meridian, Tropic of Cancer, and Tropic of Capricorn for next week's word study quiz, which will now take place on Tuesday.